Moles and groundhogs are both burrowing mammals that tear up yards, but they’re vastly different animals. Moles are tiny insectivores that live almost entirely underground, while groundhogs are stocky rodents that can weigh up to 14 pounds. Knowing which one you’re dealing with changes everything about how you respond.
Size and Appearance
The size difference alone makes these two hard to confuse if you actually see them. Groundhogs weigh 7 to 14 pounds and stretch about 25 inches long including the tail. They have yellowish-brown to black fur, small ears, black eyes, and short, powerful limbs with thick claws. They look like compact, low-slung rodents, and they spend plenty of time above ground grazing in the open.
Moles are a fraction of that size. Most species in North America weigh between 3 and 5 ounces and measure 6 to 8 inches long. Their bodies are built for tunneling: cylindrical torso, velvety fur that lies flat in any direction, oversized paddle-shaped front paws with heavy claws, and a pointed snout. Their eyes are tiny and sometimes covered by skin entirely. You’ll rarely see a mole above ground. If you do, it looks like a small, dark, almost featureless lump with enormous hands.
What They Eat
Moles are insectivores. Their diet is almost entirely earthworms, grubs, beetle larvae, and other soil-dwelling invertebrates. A mole eats roughly its own body weight in food every day because its metabolism runs high and tunneling burns enormous energy. They don’t eat plant roots, though their tunneling can damage roots indirectly by disturbing the soil around them.
Groundhogs are herbivores. They eat green plants, fruits, and vegetables, getting most of their water from dewy leaves rather than drinking. They’ll occasionally snack on insects, bird eggs, or other small creatures, but plant material makes up the bulk of their diet. This is why groundhogs cause direct damage to gardens. They’re not tunneling through your vegetable patch accidentally; they’re eating it.
How Their Burrows Differ
This is where most homeowners first notice a problem, and the burrow characteristics are completely different.
Mole tunnels run just below the surface, creating visible raised ridges across lawns. You can often trace the path with your eyes. Moles also create volcano-shaped mounds of loose dirt pushed up from deeper tunnels. The entry holes, when visible, are small, typically around 1 to 2 inches across. The damage looks like someone ran irregular lines under your grass with a finger.
Groundhog burrows are substantial. The entrance hole is 10 to 12 inches in diameter, and the tunnel drops steeply before leveling off into a narrower passage. A single groundhog burrow system can extend 50 feet or more and include multiple chambers and exits. You’ll often see a large mound of excavated dirt fanned out at the main entrance. These burrows can undermine foundations, patios, and retaining walls because of their depth and size.
Seasonal Activity and Hibernation
Groundhogs are true hibernators. They retreat underground in late fall and their body essentially shuts down: heart rate drops from 80 beats per minute to just 5, breathing slows from 16 breaths per minute to about 2, and they lose over half their body weight before emerging. In mild climates, males come out first in early to mid-February to scout for female burrows. Breeding begins in March, and females give birth about four weeks later. An unusually long winter can delay the whole cycle because groundhogs need growing plants available when they surface.
Moles don’t hibernate. They’re active year-round, tunneling deeper in winter when the frost line pushes earthworms and grubs lower in the soil. In spring and fall, when the ground is moist and invertebrates are near the surface, mole tunneling is most visible. You might think they’ve disappeared in winter, but they’ve simply moved to deeper tunnels you can’t see from the surface.
Yard Damage: What to Look For
If your lawn has raised ridges and small conical dirt mounds but no large holes, you’re dealing with moles. The grass may feel spongy underfoot where shallow tunnels have separated the turf from the soil beneath it. Plants in garden beds might wilt because tunneling has exposed their roots to air pockets rather than because anything is eating them.
If you see large open holes near structures, fences, or garden edges with piles of excavated soil, that’s a groundhog. You’ll likely also notice plants being eaten, particularly leafy greens, clover, and garden crops. Groundhogs are active during the day, so you may spot the animal itself sitting upright near its burrow entrance or grazing nearby.
Managing Moles
Trapping is the most effective method for controlling moles. The harpoon-style trap (sometimes called a plunger trap) is the easiest for homeowners to use and is widely available at hardware stores. It sits on top of an active tunnel and deploys spring-loaded spikes when the mole passes beneath. Scissor-jaw and choker-loop traps also work but require you to dig into the tunnel to set them. For a non-lethal option, you can bury an empty coffee can or similar container flush with the bottom of a tunnel as a pitfall trap.
For long-term exclusion, you can install underground barriers made from galvanized hardware cloth. Bury the material 2 feet deep with 6 inches left above ground and 3 inches bent outward at the bottom to discourage moles from digging under. This works well around garden beds or small areas but isn’t practical for an entire lawn.
Many popular home remedies don’t hold up. Castor oil products, the so-called “mole plant,” vibrating windmills, chewing gum, and flooding tunnels have no consistent scientific support. Poison gases, gasoline, and other hazardous materials dumped into tunnels are both ineffective and dangerous.
Managing Groundhogs
Groundhogs respond to different strategies because they live and feed above ground. Fencing is the most reliable exclusion method. A fence around a garden needs to extend at least 3 feet above ground and be buried at least a foot below the surface, with the bottom angled outward to prevent digging underneath. Unanchored chicken wire laid flat on the ground around the fence perimeter can also discourage them.
Live trapping with large cage traps baited with cantaloupe, apples, or fresh vegetables works for removing individual animals, though local regulations vary on whether you can relocate wildlife. Because groundhog burrows are large and often positioned near foundations, sealing abandoned burrows promptly is important to prevent other animals from moving in or the structure from collapsing.
The timing of your approach matters. Groundhogs are most active from spring through early fall. Addressing the problem before females give birth in April means you’re dealing with fewer animals. Once a litter is raised and dispersed in early summer, the young will establish their own burrows nearby, multiplying the problem.